


The Devil's Husband: Welcome to Night Vale

by Saintduma



Series: NaNoWriMo: The Devil's Husband [3]
Category: Original Work, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gen, NaNoWriMo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 09:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5158844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saintduma/pseuds/Saintduma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is part of a series done for NaNoWriMo. It is not at all edited. The "chapters" are very short, because they're really just bursts of words, not because they're meant to be full-length chapters by any means. This is primarily just so I can organize them.</p><p>Hael turns up in Night Vale and eats a delicious slice of Big Rico's Pizza.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Devil's Husband: Welcome to Night Vale

“The past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle present.”

Hael turned the car off, but left the key in the ignition, taking a deep breath and adjusting his rearview mirror so he could not so easily see the mountain shrouded in the distance behind him. He couldn’t say why it made him feel uneasy; but now it was out of sight, he let it out of mind, and thought about those words on the radio. 

It was comforting. 

He missed someone, someone whose name did not settle into a correct word here, not really. He knew there were synonyms for that name, the way that someone could be named something like Hannah, and it mean ‘grace’ and ‘favour’ and also somehow the name ‘Anna’, and he knew if there was a name for that someone he missed here, there would be a name for him too, something derivative like Hannah from Anna and the lack of a name did not make it any easier to miss that someone, right now.

There was a song on the radio, skilled use of a guitar, and singing that was beautiful but discordant, and Hael was hungry. He pulled the key out of the ignition and opened the door, standing up and nodding to a girl walking into the pizza shop, carrying several books in her arms. She glared at him, yanking the door open, and as it swung closed, he saw her join several other children her age at one of the booths, all already engrossed in their books.

He pushed the glass door open, and sat at a booth two over from the children, and smiled at the waitress as she smiled at him, putting down a glass of water and offering him a menu. 

“Nobody does a slice like Big Rico,” she said, her smile too toothy. Hael was not uncomfortable at that toothy smile. She was pretty despite it, straight black hair tied tightly back, and a long nose that gave her a stately profile. 

“I would like a slice of the special of today,” Hael replied. “And one of cheese. And a Dasani.” 

“Good choice,” she purred, taking the menu back and turning away. Hael realized he had no idea what the special was. He wasn’t worried, particularly, but was confident he would like it. He wasn’t allergic to anything. In fact, there was not anything he didn’t like to eat, except perhaps tripe, with all those little holes, which made his skin crawl a little sometimes, when he was tired. 

She arrived back with his bottle of Dasani. He uncapped it and drank from it, rather than the glass of water she’d provided. And then there was two slices of pizza in front of him, one of which had slices of tripe and broccoli. 

It was really a very good slice of pizza. He didn’t even want to eat the cheese one afterwards, because the tripe and broccoli was so good.

“New to town?” the waitress asked, with so many teeth in her smile. Her nametag read ‘Veronica’. He knew that name meant ‘true image’. 

“I just arrived, yes,” he replied.

“Found the local favorite right away,” she said with approval. 

“I heard about it on the radio,” he confessed. “And it was right here. I do not really know how long I have been driving.”

“Oh, I know that feeling,” she said. “Sometimes you just start to drive and drive and time just melts away, and suddenly, there you are, wherever you’ve gone, and your trunk is full of yellow highlighters, and it doesn’t really make too much of a difference, does it?”

“No, I suppose not,” Hael frowned a little, remembering suddenly a yellow highlighter in the cup holder of his car, unsure of where it came from. “Do you... lose time, a lot?” he asked her.

She frowned deeply at that, her demeanor changing completely as she stood a little stiffer, and shifted her weight away from him.

“No,” she replied, lips pursed slightly. “Why would you ask a question like that?”

He had done something very wrong, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He didn’t like how unhappy she seemed, and so he gave her a smile, gentle like the moon through clouds, and shrugged. 

“Me either,” he lied, the lie acrid on his tongue, and he sipped his Dasani to wash the lie away. She relaxed instantly, and observed his barely-touched cheese slice. 

“All set then?”

“Yes, thank you.”


End file.
